Sweetner firm in $20m IPO

A Hamilton company that extracts a zero calorie sweetener from a protected Chinese fruit today announced an initial public offering to raise $20 million as it looks to commercialise its product.

The non-caloric fruit concentrate sweetener, called PureLo, is made from the Chinese luo han guo fruit, grown in the mountainous Guangxi province in Southern China.

The company was founded by former HortResearch scientist Garth Smith, American nutraceuticals marketer Stephen LeFebvre and Chinese luo han expert Lan FuSheng.

Dr Smith first went to China to research kiwifruit growing in the plant's homeland and met FuSheng who is China's leading expert in luo han.

The pair have developed new varieties of the plant and improved cultivation techniques now used by the grower network which is made up of about 5000 farmers.

About 3000 tonnes of fruit is expected to be processed this year, targeting the North American food and beverage industry, with the white powder extract selling for about $450 a kilogram.

The extract is 150 times sweeter than cane sugar.

The company, which has a base at Hamilton's Innovation park, has already raised US$7.5m (NZ$9.9m) to build a new plant at Guilin for this season and says it is aiming for revenue of $100m in the next five years.

PureLo is the first naturally-occurring sweetener to be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.

Investors in the company include Sir Stephen Tindall's K1W1 fund, Endeavour Capital, ACC and the New Zealand Venture Investment Fund.

- © Fairfax NZ News